D, on 29 July 2015 - 01:43 PM, said:
Are Kenryll'ah / Kenyll'rah actually different species? Or just a social hierarchy between them? (Certainly the Kenryll'ah have better training and equipment so are better fighters, but are they actually substantially bigger/stronger too?)
They certainly look different from the Kenyll'rah.
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The demon had collected a double-bladed axe near the body of one of its kind and now carried it over a shoulder. For all its size, Lilac moved quietly, shortening its stride to stay alongside Trull. He noted that the pattern of its breathing was odd. After a deep breath it took another, shorter one, followed by a faintly whistling exhalation that did not seem to come from its broad, flattened nose.
vs. the Kenryll'ah:
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Trull looked over at the Kenryll'ah demon that had spoken. It was taller than the Tiste Edur on their horses. A face of sharper features than those on Lilac, black as chiselled basalt, the upper and lower canines protruding and glinting silver. A fur-lined collar, a vest of bronze scales, salt-rimed and dark with patination. A heavy leather belt on which was slung a huge scabbarded tulwar. Leather leggings, grey and supple. The other demon, standing at its side, differed only in the choice of weapons, a massive matlock gripped in two gauntleted hands.
This second Kenryll'ah bared its teeth. […]
..whether that makes them different species or just two branches of the same, like the K'Chain Che'Malle and Nah'ruk.. I have a headache.
Apt, on 29 July 2015 - 07:46 PM, said:
James Hutton, on 29 July 2015 - 07:17 PM, said:
Aren't Jheck Imass hostages, according to FoD? Or am I misremembering things?
Might be. Or might be a progenitor species or some side branch to the dogrunners.
The Jheck and Jhelarkan are branches of the same race, cannot remember for the moment which split off from which, but according to FoD the Jheck live in the south closer to the Dog Runners, while the Jhelarkan's territory is north of the abandoned Jaghut dwellings. Iirc, both are descended from the Dog Runners, aka Imass. According to FoD, anyway.
The hostages came from the Jhelarkan and eventually became the Hounds of Shadow.
Apt, on 29 July 2015 - 07:46 PM, said:
Other races:
The River/Shore/Shake people are seperate from the rest of the Tiste, no? So same ancestry but different branch, maybe?
I think they are. They probably started out as Tiste and remained the purest branch due to not associating with either of the factions of Dark, Light and Shadow. Imo, they are the descendants of either the Deniers or/and the Tiste from the Monasteries we see in FoD (hence 'related to the royal line' thing), which is where their shore-themed faith comes from, having originally worshipped the river god of Dorssan Ryl. However, after reaching Lether they intermingled with humans, who knows what else, and also whatever K'Chain leftovers were floating in the ocean, and became the Shake we meet. So, personally, I wouldn't group them with the Andii, and peg them down as a separate branch
beside the Andii, Liosan and Edur. That their language has many left-overs from the Andii language is not surprising, considering all Tiste used to speak the same language, and their three languages still seem to be mutually intelligible.
And also, there are the Gandaru & Kindaru that are mentioned in TtH, and which Samar Dev calls 'not quite human', though what exactly that means...
This post has been edited by Puckstein: 29 July 2015 - 08:26 PM